Day 1: Singapore -UK
After a 14 hour flight aboard British Airway's World Traveller (economy) class, I finally reached London. Yahoo!! 'Good Morning London' was the first thought that came into my head when I left Heathrow Airport. It was a cool and pleasant morning. We took this estate car (which turned out to be unlicensed *shudder*) to aunt Alison's house in Claygate, Surrey. A satellite town west of London although its within the London calling zone. After we reached the house, Peter warmed up these chocolate filled croissants and we all had a quick breakfast in the kitchen before bringing Frodo (or was it Fredo??) and Rosy for a walk in the nearby woods and countryside. It was wonderful. We were constantly flanked by blackberry bushes every now and then. I heard they taste amazing coz they r organic, wild and not to mention....free!! Haha. It sounds like a perfect Enid Blyton setting according to Melissa. Anyway, after the walk, we went back to the house and showered before walking to Claygate station to board the next train bound for London Waterloo. The day had grown so hot by then that I was sitting at the station in juz a pair of jeans n tees (had to take my jacket off or i'll melt), panting and eating elderflower ice cream. Peter was like 'Stop complaining you're from Singapore' and I was like 'Yeah. That is why I hate the heat!!' We basically visited Oxford Street and High Holborn in London where Grace had to drop some stuff at LSE before taking the next train back to Claygate for dinner. Andy and unc David weren't present coz they were driving in from Switzerland. According to aunt Alison, they were in the Champagne country (France) the last time she called them. Dinner at her place is excellent. She has a big family and usually has guests so her dining table is usually full of people.
At the dinner table:
Me_Aunt Rose_Grace_Aunt Alison_Peter_Phillipa and Graham(Phillipa's bf)
London highway
aunt Alison's house
In the countryside. Thats Peter leading the way
me coming in second ;)
woohoo........Rumpleteaser!! :D One of their cats.
blackberries....both ripe and unripe. The unripe ones kind of look like raspberries
the countryside. Thats Frodo n Rosy above
in the woods
London Waterloo
London city
if I was younger, I would have died of a heart attack
High Holborn
Day 2: UK
It was a much cooler day. Aunt Alison gave us a lift to Hampton Court Palace. There were some really great sites in there. My favourite were the Tudor Kitchens and the gardens. We missed out on the mazes though coz the palace grounds were massive. I only found that out from Andy when I got back to Claygate. Aaaahh!!!!!!!!! Anyway, after our palace tour, we took a train from Hampton Court station to Guildford to do some shopping. It was a nice place. Not my cup of tea though. Just a little clean satellite town of London with an upper-middle class population and malls as well as shopping streets everywhere. There was no bazaar that day though. How sad. After buying some artwork and an hour or 2 of window shopping, we headed to the station and took the London Waterloo bound train back to Claygate. By the time we reached aunt Alison's place, Andy and unc David were already back from France.
At the dinner table:
Me_Aunt Rose_Grace_Aunt Alison_Unc David_Peter_Andy_Phillipa and Graham
Guildford
Hampton Court Palace's 'backyard'
backgates of the palace with statue
lesser chambers of the palace
gardens of the palace
this is the hq of some club within the palace grounds. How interesting.
front view of the palace (not so amazing)
I think this used to be a moat. Now its just a huge patch of grass
me with an audio guide:)
the 'atrium'
back view of the palace (very impressive)
the palace's 'vineyard'
Hampton's wine cellar
the Tudor Kitchen and how they made their meat pies
Tudor Kitchen continued
Day 3: UK
Took the train again from Claygate to London Waterloo. Walked all the way after that from the station to Grace's church passing Westminster Abbey. The service was alright but it kind of reminded me of Trinity (my old church which I didn't like). We went to St James Park after that for lunch before walking to the Big Ben to take in its sights. Took the tube after that to Knightsbridge for a quick visit to Harrods. It was such a cool place but I was so mad coz the security guards there made me carry my backpack frontwards (standard S.O.P in case u make a wrong move and end up breaking their stuff). After a quick visit to Leon's appartment to collect sm of Grace's books, it was back to Claygate again for dinner.
At the dinner table:
Me_Aunt Rose_Grace_Aunt Alison_Unc David_Peter_Phillipa_Andy_Graham and
Christopher (Andy's friend)
Egyptian Room- Harrods
Food section- Harrods. In case u haven't noticed, that is a real shark being sold in the pic above:)
Westminster Abbey
the church I went to
cottage in St James Park
me by the Thames. Those are canoeists in the water F.Y.I
Day 4: UK-France
Oooh!! Had such a screwed up morning. I don't wish to talk much about it coz it was quite nerve-wrecking. Anyway, we left aunt Alison's place for Luton Airport to catch our flight to Paris. Apparently, there was a major jam on the highway due to some roadworks. Grrr........But at least we reached the airport in time. It was a 40 min flight from London to Paris. Took the Metro from the airport's station when we touched down to Anvers where our hostel was. It was really tiring lugging our luggages considering the fact that there were no escalators. Aaahhhh!!!!!!!!! After checkin in, we had a quick but lovely lunch at a cafe near our place before taking the bus to the Champs-Elysees. Went to the Arc de Triomphe there before taking a nice long stroll along its boulevard. Had to rush off after that though coz we had to meet aunt Pauline, Sebastian and Emily at Porte de Choisy for dinner after that. It was really nice seeing them after 4 years. Too bad unc Richard wasn't around coz he had to fly off on a business trip to the south of France.
EARLY MORNING highway jam on the way from Claygate to Luton
Avenue de Champs-Elysees
interesting isn't it?? (look closely if u don't know what im talking about)
newly installed trams at Porte de Choisy
Anvers
me at the Arc de Triomphe
La Defense as seen from the Arc de Triomphe
Cartier Paris!! How original :)
